


The Present is an Ugly Reminder of the Past

by ElizaXSpears



Series: Our Adoption [3]
Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death, Drama, Fire, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 21:51:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4322061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizaXSpears/pseuds/ElizaXSpears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...but the peace couldn’t last forever before the past reared its ugly head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Present is an Ugly Reminder of the Past

It had been a happy year with his new daughter, Mary eagerly welcoming home both her father’s home with large hugs, showing them increasingly better drawings she did both at school and at home when she was stuck with a babysitter. Sebastian was impressed with how quickly Joseph adjusted to suddenly having a daughter, helping her with her homework, watching the insanity of cartoons which he was far too old far, he was even the one she’d go to with her bad dreams, cuddling into Joseph when she asked to sleep with them after having particularly bad nightmares and Sebastian would hold them both, drifting his fingers through his daughters hair like he did with Lily, helping to ease her to sleep but the peace couldn’t last forever before the past reared its ugly head.

When Sebastian had to stay late to finish up some paperwork, he had a sinking feeling in his gut. It made him uncomfortable, forcing him to shift in his seat every few moments, eyes glancing at his phone even more often. His fingers itched to call Joseph as his partner had went home on time, freeing Mary from the babysitter but with the time it was, she was probably sleeping and he was probably enjoying a warm bath so best to not bother.

Then he heard the loud sirens of a fire engine. His heart came to a halt, freezing in his spot as the sirens sped past. The sinking feeling became worse and worse until he abandoned his work to throw himself into his car and rush home but as he drove up the hill he could see smoke lifting into the sky, soon flames coming into his vision, forcing him to slam on the breaks, memories flooding back to him, memories he had shoved into the back of his mind, hoping they’d be forgotten. Lily, burning, her tiny hands covering her mouth to keep the smokes from her lungs before the flames licked at her skin, her small screams, “Lily!” he called out, bursting from his car to run towards the burning home. He would have ran into the home but seeing Joseph bring brought out on a stretcher halted him in his tracks, burns all along his side, glasses cracked and half melted in one of the firefighters hand. “Joseph!” he stopped them, eyes trailing over all the burns. “Joseph…”

“We’re sorry sir, but we need to take him to the hospital immediately.” The man with Joseph’s glasses said.

“What about the little girl? What about…” he shook his head, clenching his fists when Lily’s name nearly formed on his tongue. “What about Mary?”

His answer was given when a gurney was rolled by with a child sized body bag. “…Mary…” he turned back and Joseph was already lifted into the ambulance, the doors just closing before it rushed off to the hospital. Shaking, he turned back to the home, images of Myra sobbing beside him for their lost daughter, the house itself turning into the home that had burned with Lily.

When the fire was nearly put out, he returned to his car, driving to the hospital where he sat in the waiting room after asking to see Joseph Oda. Thankfully that didn’t take long and he was taken to his partner’s room, white bandages covering a generous amount of his body. “Joseph.” He said approaching the bed as Joseph stared at the white wall, unblinking. “Joseph?” he carefully reached out, laying a hand on Joseph’s uninjured hand. “Can you look at me?”

“…where is she?” he asked, blinking once. Sebastian’s throat dried, clutching Joseph’s hand. “Oh…” he understood without a word needing to be said.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I…I don’t know. Mary was sleeping…I was reading then…then suddenly there was smoke, fire…burning…” tears were brimming in his eyes. “I tried running to grab her but the fire…it kept me from getting to her room in time.”

With a careful thumb, Sebastian wiped a tear that slid down Joseph’s cheek. “You tired.”

“She’s…” he swallowed. “I couldn’t.”

Sebastian hugged him, squeezing him carefully, trying to keep pressure off his burns.

Eventually, when Joseph was finally allowed to leave the hospital, their first stop was to the grave of the young girl, both having missed the funeral due to Joseph not being able to attend and without his partner, Sebastian was afraid he’d do something stupid. A simple white lily was laid on her grave, Sebastian’s arm around Joseph’s waist, the younger man staring at the ground stone with regret burned into his eyes with the pain of her loss burned into his heart. He now fully understood what Sebastian had gone through the first time.

As their home was burned, they had put themselves up in a cheap apartment to gather themselves again. Though Sebastian had found the strength to return to work, Joseph just remained on the couch or in their bed, not a muscle moving, not eating or drinking, just staring at nothing with the horrid memories running through his mind. “Joseph?!” he called into the room when he arrived home with take out in one hand. “I brought dinner.” There was no answer, Sebastian simply guessing his partner was napping so he entered the bedroom, wanting nothing more than to hold Joseph in his arms, however Joseph wasn’t there. Instead, there was a note on his pillow.

A feeling of dread washed over him as he lifted the note, heart dropping to the pit of his stomach:

_Sebastian,_

_I’m sorry I have to do this but I now know the feeling you had when you lost Lily. It’s too much for me and I know you don’t want to look at the man that couldn’t save our daughter. You’ll be better off without me sulking around day in and day out. I love you Sebastian, I always will, but I can’t stay in this town anymore with these memories. Even so, this just proves you’re a stronger man then I am. I’m sorry again, but I have to leave all of it behind, including you._

_\- Joseph_

A tear that slipped from his stubbly chin smeared Joseph’s name before he crumbled the paper, tossing it against the wall. He buried his face in his hands and now he didn’t even have a partner to relay on anymore. In the end, he repeated what he had done in the past, quietly sinking into a bottle.


End file.
